Trump Couldn’t Repeal Obamacare, So He’s Threatening To Sabotage It

“I don’t want people to get hurt,” said Trump. “What I think should happen and will happen is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”

President Donald Trump seems to be running the country like the mobster Sopranos run their family business — things must happen their way or not happen at all.

Case in point: In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the real estate mogul, still clearly hung up on his massive Obamacare repeal fail, threatened to sabotage the entire individual health insurance market by refusing to reimburse insurers for critical subsidies provided to lower-income Americans.

“I don’t want people to get hurt,” Trump told the Journal. “What I think should happen and will happen is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”

The former administration required the health insurance companies to offer health plans to limit expenses like co-pays and deductibles for low-income people insured under Obamacare. The government then paid those companies to cover the extra cost.

Now, if Congressional Republicans withhold the funds, which is exactly what they are trying to do, not only would the insurance companies be on the hook for billions, it would potentially cause them to pull out of the marketplace, effectively collapsing Obamacare.

The move would affect more than 58 percent of people who signed up for Obamacare in 2017.

Even during former President Barack Obama’s administration, the Republicans were against making such payments. They even sued to stop the reimbursement but Obama went ahead and paid the carriers.

However, right now, the issue is at the center of an ongoing House lawsuit filed by former House Speaker John Boehner, who claimed Obama could not authorize those payments without congressional approval.

This has created an environment of uncertainty among health insurance companies, which does not bode well for millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act.

“Obamacare is dead next month if it doesn’t get that money,” Trump continued.

His kidnap-and-ransom technique drew serious backlash from Democrats, who do not seem particularly keen on voting for Trumpcare and dismantling their own legacy.

“Refusing to make the Cost Sharing Reduction payments has no purpose but to hurt millions of people, and manufacture a crisis,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

Trump is intentionally trying to blow up Obamacare by threatening to withhold payments to insurers. This is despicable and transparent.